Date: March 20, 21 or 22
Cross Quarter Holy day - equal day and night.
Other Names: Eostar, Spring Equinox, Vernal equinox, rites of spring, Eostra's Day, Lady's Day, Alban Eiber, Bacchanalia
Foods: seeds, sprouts, leafy greens, flower dishes, Eggs, honey
HERBS: Jasmine, daffodil, irish moss, daffodil, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, narcissus, all spring flowers
Plants: Crocus, Daffodil, Jasmine, Irish Moss, Snowdrop, Ginger
COLORS: Pink, greens, yellows, All Pastels, Robin's Egg Blue
Oils/Incense - Magnolia, lotus
Ritual Oils: Lotus, Magnolia, Ginger
Symbols - Eggs, New Moon, Butterflies/Cocoons, Rabbit/Hare
Animals: Rabbit/Hare, Snakes
Mythical Creatures: Unicorn, Merpeople, Pegesus
Stones: Aquamarine, Rose Quartz, Moonstone
Element: Air
Time of the Day: Sunrise
Attunement Teas: Dandelion, Egg drinks, Hyssop, Linden
Key Actions: Open, Begin
Deities: Youthful and virile God and Goddess
GODDESSES - All Virgin Goddesses, All Goddesses of Love, All Moon
Goddesses, All Androgynous Deities, Some Fertility Goddesses, Anna
Fearina, Aphrodite, Astarte, Athena, Coatlicue, Cybele, Doda, Eostre,
Erce, Eriu, Flidais, Gaia, Garbhog, Hera/Juno, Ishtar, Iris, Isis,
Lady of the Lake, Libera, Madhusri, Ma-Ku, Melusine, Minerva, Moon
Mother, the Muses, Ova, Persephone, Renpet, Rheda, Salamaona, Vesna,
Vesta, Venus
GODS - All Gods of Love, All Moon Gods, Some Fertility Gods, All Gods of Song and Dance, Adonis, Cernunnos, Dagda, Danh, Dylan,
Gwali, The Great Horned God, Lord of the Greenwood, Mithras, Odin, Osiris, Ovis, Pan
Aengus MacOg- A youthful deity of love, romanace, and music, who can be called upon to help escape bad situations. He is the son of the Dagda, the God of Regeneration, and Boann, the popular Irish river Goddess of the Boyne River, who represents the feminine principle of the creatory deity.
Akerbeltz- Also called the dark goat man, this horned god of all male mysteries and personifications of the male principal of creation each spring.
Attis- God of vegetation and earth, a sacrificial deity resurrected each spring.
Baal-A popular earth, vegetation and storm God whose under world associations were exalted during the demonization of the early church.
Basso Juan- A woodland God and Game Animal, who never leaves the mountains and dwells in caves, where he is protected by his animals.
Herne- His visage, complete with a beautiful rack of antlers, is found in ancient artifacts.
Eros- God of romantic love immortalized in modern Valentines Day./*
The God and Goddess have grown past their childhood and are falling in love. They will not consumate their sacred marriage until Beltane, but the fertility of their joining is already celebrated. New flowers are seen, new livestock is born, new projects are started. Everything is new and bursting with life.
Meanings: Balance, New life/Rebirth, Goddess and God in Youth, End of Winter (Non-Celtic), Light overtaking the darkness
Primary meanings: The Goddess has awaken from her winter's slumber and the earth is bursting
forth with life once again. We rejoice in the balance of day and night, of
maleness and femaleness, and the seeds shared b etween male and female. Light
and dark are equal and we celebrate the balance of the world. It is a
celecration of Eostre, Goddess of spring and fertility. Her symbols are those
representing fertility - eggs and rabbits. Ostara is also the birthday od Aradia
(Goddess of Magick).
We say goodbye to the dark time of the year, and welcome in the light time
of year. Through sympathetic magick, we try to show the earth what we wish to
occur (i.e., seeds to be sown and burst forth with life, flowers to bloom,
all things to be fertilized, etc) Ostara is a solar festival.
The energies of nature slowly shift from the sluggishness of winter to the
expansion of spring. The Goddess blankets the earth with fertility, bursting
forth from her sleep as the God grows to Maturity - walking in the greening
fields and delighting in the abundance of nature.
It is a time of beginnings, of action, of planting spells for future gain,
and tending of ritual gardens. It is traditional to pick flowers. A very good
time for herb magic. Plan a walk through nature - a celebratory ritual in
itself. It is also a traditional time for honoring one of the younger women in
the coven by appointing her Spring Queen and sending her home with an armfull
of flowers.
The Christian Holiday of Easter is named after the Teutonic Goddess Eostre.
The day Easter is celecrated is tied directly to the spring equinox (the
first sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox). The symbology of eggs
and rabbits (hares) are overlapped as well. The easter egg is pre-christian
as well. Originally it was the World Egg laid by the Goddess and split open
by the heat of the Sun God, hatching the world.
Activities: Dying Eggs, Looking for Spring Growth, Gathering sacred wood for the Beltane fire, Gathering materials to make wands staffs & besoms
Taboos: None known
Things to Do
Coloring Eggs - Though chemical dyes are available today to give you every colour of the rainbow, people used to colour eggs with natural 'dyes' made from herbs, berries and vegetables. With a little work, you can still get any colour you could want.
Spring Cleaning - The new spring warmth drives us to shed our winter clothes and it invigorates us to clean our homes. Open up windows and banish the stale winter air from your home.
Eating Chocolate - My favourite tradition, and I'm sure the Goddess loves it too. In the past, sweet foods (like honey) were offered to Eostre on this day. But once this modern-day delicacy was introduced in association with Easter, it took over the holiday.
Herb Gardens -To ensure a good harvest of herbs in the summer, an herbal garden should be planted at Ostara. If your local weather doesn't permit such a thing, you could plant some seeds indoors.